Aerospace Diary

by  Neelam Mathews  - May 1, 2019, 12:38 PM Kazakhstan’s first budget carrier—Air Astana subsidiary FlyArystan—on Wednesday launched services from its Almaty base to the Kazakh capital Nur-Sultan with one of its two Airbus A320s. FlyArystan will initially operate six domestic routes, with journey times from one to three hours to Taraz, Shymkent, Pavlodar, Uralsk, Nur-Sultan (Astana), and Karaganda, most of which lie on the periphery of the country. Aimed at computer literate first-time travelers, the Kazakh budget model resembles that of successful Indian budget carrier IndiGo, Air Astana president and CEO Peter Foster told AIN. By mid-October to November, when two more A320s join the fleet, FlyArystan will start to fly regional international routes to neighboring Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) nations and Russia, said Foster. Plans call for the fleet to grow to 15 airplanes by 2022. Foster revealed the airline would establish bases through joint ...

Neelam Mathews Dec 17, 2018 Air Astana's first Embraer E190-E2 features a special snow leopard livery. (Photo: Air Astana) As Kazakhstan’s national carrier Air Astana awaits delivery of its delayed A321LRs to replace its to-be-retired Boeing 757-200s, having become the second operator after Norway’s Wideroe to take delivery of the first of its five Embraer E-190 E2s, it is moving on its sizeable plans  corporate business,” he said. The first E2 will enter commercial service from Astana to Almaty on Wednesday and four more examples are set to join its fleet next year. The E2s are part of the airline’s short-/medium-haul fleet renewal and growth to support expansion from its Astana and Almaty hubs into Central Asia, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and China. All five E2s are leased from AerCap and will replace older first generation E190s in the fleet.   With the leases of its nine E190s expiring by 2021, “we are keen to get into the E2 program,”...

by  Neelam Mathews Dec 4, 2017 As Kazakhstan’s economy starts to bounce back after two years of currency devaluation, GDP declines and suppressed oil prices, Almaty-based Air Astana has resumed expanding its scope of operations in Russia, the Central Asian countries, South Asia and China. Located at the crossroads of Asia and Europe, Kazakhstan stands geographically well positioned to attract transit traffic, which accounts for a growing proportion of Air Astana’s revenues.   Air Astana flies to 46 international and 20 domestic destinations. “We are conscious the domestic market is very limited…That is why we are here [in India],” Air Astana CEO Peter Foster told  AIN  during a recent interview in Delhi. “Because of our geographical location, we can fly from nowhere to anywhere.” Seventeen Airbus A320neos, five Embraer E190s and three Boeing 787s have fueled Air Astana’s fleet expansion. It expects to take delivery of another two A320neos by...

Neelam Mathews Jun 13 2017 The new USD195 million Terminal 1 (T1) at Astana International Airport was officially opened by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev on 31 May, before the three-month Expo 2017 began on 10 June. 1699820 Paolo Ricciotti, chairman of Astana International Airport. ( Neelam Mathews) The new terminal went operational on 5 June with the initial transfer of all international airlines apart from Air Astana, which will be transferred at a later stage of operations. Air Astana is to use the airport as a hub, as will fast-growing SCAT Airlines (the second-largest airline in  Kazakhstan ). The new terminal is an element of the State Programme of Infrastructure Development 2015-2019. As the only airport serving the capital of  Kazakhstan , Astana International is fully state-owned and managed by the Airport Management Group, a 100% subsidiary of Kazakh Railways. Paolo Ricciotti, chairman of Astana ....more on Janes ..

  →By Neelam Mathews Devaluation of oil-rich Kazakhstan’s currency, tenge, twice in two years following a crash in oil prices has led national carrier Air Astana to focus its expansion on neighboring countries such as China and the Ukraine, and less on the saturated domestic market. But even as it fine-tunes its growth strategy, the carrier is eager to retain  its solid #PaxEx credentials . President and CEO Peter Foster, who has been with the airline for 11 years, told RGN in a recent interview that he is accustomed to fluctuations in oil prices and will not be deterred by the downturn. While Air Astana’s “cost base has never been lower”, Foster acknowledged that the short-term challenge is to manage recession. “We face a revenue challenge.” This is because Kazakhstan’s population of 17 million people is catered to by multiple airlines, which are targeting the same market with cutthroat fares, and in turn threatening ...

by  Neelam Mathews  -  June 22, 2016, 9:06 AM Air Astana hopes that next year's Expo 2017 event will boost traffic to and from Kazakhstan. [Photo: Neelam Mathews] A highly devalued currency and collapsing oil revenues have left Kazakhstan’s economy in the doldrums, leaving flag carrier Air Astana to recalibrate its business plan with a stronger emphasis on international routes. In February 2017, the airline is due to start paying for three new Boeing 787 widebodies that may prove to be a heavy drain on its  U.S.  dollar reserves. At a June 15 press briefing in Almaty, Air Astana president and  CEO  Peter Foster did not definitively confirm that the 787 deliveries will go ahead as planned. “That is something we have got a close eye on given the weak currency market,” he told  AIN . “We will have to see how the market develops. Obviously, markets are not huge at the moment and growth has slowed down.” Air Astana’s plan has been...

by  Neelam Mathews   and Vladimir Karnozov Aug 7, 2015 An August 3 ceremony at Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow, Russia, marked the handover of Transaero Airlines’ initial Airbus A321, delivered as part of the Russian carrier’s contract with China’s ICBC Leasing. (Photo: Airbus) With the Russian economy in retreat and as sanctions prompt airlines to turn from networks populated heavily with international routes to more domestically focused structures, managers have taken steps to decrease fleet capacity by handing back aircraft to lessors and deferring or canceling aircraft deliveries. Even Transaero—Russia’s second largest airline—has taken steps to cut capacity with plans to replace some larger Boeing types with Airbus A321s. The initial A321 delivery on July 28 at Moscow Vnukovo International Airport marked Transaero’s first experience with Airbuses since the turn of the century, when it leased a single A310 for a few...

by  Neelam Mathews  -  July 28, 2015, 9:00 AM Pix-Neelam Mathews The United Nations World Tourism Organization ( UNWTO ) plans a so-called aviation Silk Road initiative for the integration of Central Asia and surrounding regions into a cohesive trading belt. The aviation route at first will include northern, northwest and central China, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Azerbaijan, eastern parts of Turkey, southwest Russia, Armenia and Georgia. The Silk Road or Silk Route–an ancient network of trade routes that connected the West and East by merchants and pilgrims from China and India to the Mediterranean Sea—inspired the name of the initiative to promote open skies in the region. “ Embracing open skies is vital for the region if the concept has to be successful,” said Alla Peressolova, head of the Silk Road program of the  UNWTO . “Building a coh...

Neelam Mathews April 2, 2015 Pegasus Asia, born out of Turkey’s Pegasus Airlines’ partnership with Kyrgyz airline Air Manas, is expanding with new routes and increased frequencies. The latest feather in the Bishkek-based airline now includes twice-weekly scheduled flights to Delhi. Kazakhsthan based Air Astana already runs five services a week to Delhi. The aim of Pegasus Asia is to make Bishkek a hub for Central Asia said a spokesperson, by making it a transit point for onward travel to Europe, the Middle East, Russia and the Far East. Having launched the first Bishkek-Istanbul flights on March 21, it runs daily flights between Bishkek Manas International Airport and Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen Airport. Passengers can now connect from Delhi to Istanbul via Bishkek with fares starting at just £156, said the spokesperson. The carrier’s connections to Central Asian destinations will provide a respite to Indian students and businessmen heading to Osh in Kyrgyzstan...

Japanese golfers could be teeing off in Almaty By Neelam Mathews   /  December 15, 2014 With business to Asian destinations like Hong Kong, Ho Chi Minh and Seoul collecting good yields, Kazakhstan’s largest carrier, Air Astana, is looking at servicing Tokyo from Almaty in 2016, the airline's president Peter Foster told Travel Weekly. Peter Foster, president Air Astana “We are in talks with the two main carriers (ANA and JAL) to enter into partnership with one of them. Japan is a different market. We joined the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) recently to give us exposure to that market,” Foster said.   “We are in talks with the two main carriers (ANA and JAL) to enter into partnership with one of them. Japan is a different market. We joined the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) recently to give us exposure to that market,” Foster said. "Almaty would be of interest to the Japanese market. They can also play a game of golf there,” Foster...

Kazakhstan carrier spreads its wings By Neelam Mathews   /  December 08, 2014 Air Astana, new services to Bangkok and Paris The Stopover Holidays programme launched by Air Astana Holidays, a division of Kazakhstan’s largest carrier, Air Astana, in October last year, is proving popular for some of the 100,000 transit passengers to Almaty and Astana. Air Astana, new services to Bangkok and Paris The two-day package provides visitors with hotel accommodation, including breakfast at a choice of hotels, arrival and departure airport transfers by private car and optional half-day sightseeing tours in the two cities.    The two-day package provides visitors with hotel accommodation, including breakfast at a choice of hotels, arrival and departure airport transfers by private car and optional half-day sightseeing tours in the two cities.  Richard Ledger, vice president worldwide sales, says, “There are flows we would not have sold otherwise.”  In su...

AINONLINE by    NEELAM MATHEWS Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev (right) and Bombardier president and CEO Pierre Beaudoin meet in Astana on February 26. March 4, 2014, 11:12 AM The Central Asian Republic of Kazakhstan plans to launch a domestic airline, Air Kazakhstan, in early 2015 with a fleet of 10 new Bombardier Q400 twin turboprops. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev announced the plans with Bombardier president and  CEO  Pierre Beaudoin on February 26 following a meeting between the two at January’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to discuss wider cooperation in air and rail transport. “We can build on the experience of starting a new airline from Air Astana,” a 12-year-old joint venture between Kazakhstan’s national wealth fund Samruk Kazyna and the  UK ’s  BAE  Systems, confirmed Nazarbayev. “We plan to transfer technology, provide training to Kazakhstan’s pilots, construct a...

AIN AIR TRANSPORT PERSPECTIVE  »  JANUARY 6, 2014 by    NEELAM MATHEWS Air Astana plans to take delivery of a third Boeing 767-300ER this year. (Image: Boeing) January 6, 2014, 1:30 PM Resolved on tapping the booming Central Asian market, global alliances SkyTeam, OneWorld and Star Alliance have approached Kazakhstan national carrier Air Astana with offers to join their ranks. In response, the airline recently commissioned U.S.-based Seabury Group to prepare a report on whether it should enter an alliance “and which one, because all alliances want us to join them,” Air Astana president Peter Foster told  AIN  in Astana recently. “The year 2014 will be a big year for us as we will decide how to structure our medium-haul fleet,” said Foster. “Our first consideration will be range and then costs when we evaluate our options.” Over the past two years Air Astana rolled over virtually its entire fleet, replacing all its...